1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to devices for holding parts and tools in a temporary work place and more specifically to holding parts and tools within easy reach of a person working on a man lifter, cherry-picker, or other isolated platform with railings.
2. Background
Man lifters elevate a workman and the tools and parts needed to do a job. Elevations of ninety feet or more may be obtained. The man lifter work space conventionally includes a floor, or platform, surrounded with a railing. Persons working on man lifters and other confined, isolated, elevated platforms conventionally must carry their tools and parts on their person or lay the tools and parts on the floor of the man-lifter. Carrying parts and tools on the person may be impossible for large jobs and is at least fatiguing for medium-sized jobs. Having parts and tools on the man lifter floor is dangerous to the worker who may trip on such items and to those below the platform who may be struck by falling metal parts and tools. Furthermore, having parts and tools on the floor is inefficient due to the time spent bending over to pick them up. The difficulties do not appear to have been addressed in the existing art.
A tool box for scaffolding is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,080 to Klimas (1996) discloses a tool box with a lid, the box adapted to hang on a scaffolding bar and required to be supported against rotation by at least one vertical scaffolding bar. Klimas discloses locking the lid of the tool box, but not locking the tool box to the scaffolding. A portable carrier device that attaches to ladder rungs and stiles is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,468 to Preston, et al. (1987), discloses a device that hooks over and clamps to a ladder rung and also engages a ladder stile for stability. Preston does not disclose a lock for securing the carrier to the rung or stile.
Neither of these devices nor other conventional methods meet all the needs of those who work on elevated, isolated platforms such as man lifters, cherry pickers, boom-lifts, and other railing-delimited platforms. The workman needs the means to secure tools and parts in a convenient location while ensuring that parts and tools are unlikely to fall off the mobile man lifter. At the same time, the means for carrying tools and parts must not imbalance the man lifter, as a large tool box may do if placed outside the man lifter railing.
Accordingly, the present invention is to a lockable railing trough for holding tools and parts for a workman in a railing-delimited work space, such as on a man lifter, cherry picker, scaffolding, or boom lifter. The railing trough may have end panels, forming a bin. The locking mechanism comprises a mechanically separate item from the trough. The trough or bin may be hung on a railing, as on a man lifter railing, by a hook portion of the trough or bin and locked there with the locking mechanism, which engages the trough or bin. The trough or bin may hang on the inside of the railing or on the outside of the railing. Matched pairs of troughs and/or bins may be arranged in saddle-bag fashion, with their hook portions overlapping over the railing. A plurality of bins and troughs may be used on a plurality of railings on a single man lifter. The bins and troughs may be adapted to particular work environments such as painting, electrical work, or plumbing. The troughs and bins may comprise compartments, partitions, trays, tool tethers, and other adaptations to particular work requirements.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the lockable railing trough will be apparent from the following more particular description of specific embodiments of the lockable railing trough, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIGS. 1A-D depict an exemplary embodiment of the lockable railing trough in four different positions;
FIGS. 2A-C depict an exemplary trough and bin embodiment of the lockable railing trough on square railings;
FIGS. 3A-C depict front, back, and end views of an exemplary embodiment of the lockable railing trough;
FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary bin embodiment of the lockable railing trough with tool lanyards;
FIG. 5 depicts another exemplary bin embodiment of the lockable railing trough adapted for paint cans and lids;
FIG. 6 depicts a bin-side view of another exemplary bin and trough embodiment of the lockable railing trough;
FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary bin and trough embodiment of the lockable railing trough in place on a man-lifter.